Gripper heads for lifting an object, for example a connector, and positioning the object in a different location, for example on a printed circuit board, are known in the industry. Many such gripper heads have mechanical or pneumatic units to control gripper jaws or arms. The gripper jaws or arms are moved into engagement with outside surfaces of the object. Force is applied to the gripper jaws or arms to secure the object between the gripper jaws or arms, allowing the gripper head to pick up and transport the object to another location. Once properly moved to the location, the gripper head moves or inserts the object as required. Once properly moved or inserted, the gripper jaws or arms are retracted from the object, allowing the object to remain in the moved or inserted position.
While known gripper heads are well suited to lift and place many objects, the known gripper heads do not provide sufficient accuracy when in which precision location is required for insertion. For example, if an electrical component with contacts extending therefrom is to be inserted into a mating component which has little clearance, the contacts may be easily bent during insertion, as known gripper heads cannot precisely control the positioning of the electrical component within the gripper head. Alternately, the electrical component may not be able to be inserted into the mating component.
It would, therefore, be beneficial to provide gripper head or mechanism which can pick up objects such as electrical components and lock the components in position relative to the gripper head or mechanism, preventing the object or electrical component from moving in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis of the gripper head, preventing the electrical component from moving in a direction in line with the longitudinal axis of the gripper head and preventing the electrical component from moving rotationally about the longitudinal axis of the gripper head.